Posted
by
Zonk
on Saturday April 15, 2006 @10:16PM
from the i-never-get-the-cool-invites dept.

theodp writes to mention a C|Net article about Chinese President Hu Jintao's historic first visit to the U.S.. The catch is that his first dinner won't be at the White House. It will be at Bill Gates' manse. From the article: "The approximately 100-person guest list is a who's who of the U.S. Pacific Northwest power elite, including Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz and Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire, said event organizers. The guests will undergo strict security checks before entering Gates' lodge-style, 66,000-square-foot home overlooking Lake Washington with a reported seven bedrooms, six kitchens, 24 bathrooms, a domed library, a reception hall and an artificial estuary stocked with salmon and trout. Gates and Gregoire are expected to introduce and welcome Hu, who will then offer a toast in front of the gathering."

Bush: What about when?
Rove: Wen?
Bush: Yes, when.
Rove: I don't know if the Premier is coming.
Bush: Who asked about the Premier, damnit!
Rove: Oh, did he? I assume he would know.
Bush: Who?
Rove: Yes, Hu would know Wen.
Bush: Don't make me feed you a pretzel.

Bush: What about when?Rove: Wen?Bush: Yes, when.Rove: I don't know if the Premier is coming.Bush: Who asked about the Premier, damnit!Rove: Oh, did he? I assume he would know.Bush: Who?Rove: Yes, Hu would know Wen.Bush: Rove...Rove: Yes?Bush: Don't make me feed you a pretzel.

Bill Gates, no. Microsoft, oh yes. That's the whole point of the antitrust proceedings. You don't sit on billions in cash without giving Uncle Sam and the powers to be a nice cut. Microsoft's contributions to the political process went from nothing to a whole lot more because of the antitrust proceedings.

I run a nonprofit wherein I refurbish people's castoff computers, install Kubuntu, and then give them away to high school students in my area who can't afford their own computers (we also do fundraisers to pay for their DSL).There is no way we could afford Windows licenses (we have placed about sixty boxes since January). Kubuntu is free.

To the end-user, who in this case only needs to type papers, send e-mail, and surf the web (ie, the vast majority of users), Kubuntu is a much better deal than XP. There

You don't start with 3-400K. You start (at least in my case, $0). I used to have to sneak around in office complexes to sleep and clean up in the bathrooms, hiding from security guards, etc... in my adulthood beginnings.I'm not against social services to a point. At the cost of inflating government, I'm against it. You just can't give out handouts because people will expect them and rely on them. People have to - absolutely have to - learn how to fish on their own.I want better things in life and I am

Founder Technology President Qi Dongfeng said the company would buy $250 million worth of licenses for a Chinese version of Windows over the next three years, to be used on computers sold in China. The two companies also agreed to work together to promote the use of genuine versions of Windows.

The agreement, which company officials signed at Microsoft's Redmond headquarters, follows high-level talks Tuesday between U.S. and Chinese officials in which China pledged to crack down on piracy and require computers to use legal software. Piracy is thought to be extremely widespread in China, hampering Microsoft's efforts to make money in the vast and growing market.

The signing ceremony also comes ahead of a visit next week by Chinese President Hu Jintao, who will visit Microsoft headquarters and dine at the home of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

You know all but one is a half-bath (or perhaps one full bath, 46 half-baths and they're just adding instead of listing properly). Don't all geeks love to work from the crapper thanks to us living in the Wi-Fi era? I'm sure our richest enemy plugs into a 30" flat panel in every one.

I'll bet those trout are ill tempered and have lasers on their heads. Hey, the work for Microsoft so they have to be in a bad mood. Everyday is a bad day, then they serve you for dinner when they "fucking kill" you as they've done before and will do again.

It's nice to see the head of Evil Industry's Starbuck's division getting some publicity and credit. Number two's idea there was quite profitable.

Gates, stroking a bald cat: "Do you like my quasi futuristic clothing, Chairman Hu? I designed them myself."

Chairman Hu: "Ah yes, they are much like Chairman Mao's favorites, but he liked drab blue."

Master Gates: "A toast then, to $400,000,000 and the drab."

-clink-clink-

Chairman Hu: "I have a thing for Red."

Flunky S. Baller: "Tell me you are not talking about Red Flag Linux!" Perspiration half moons show under his arms.

Doesn't anyone have values anymore? I'm not against all consumption, or even against all conspicuous consumption, but when it gets to the point where there's no longer even any pretext I think it shows a lack of character.

a $400 Million package that works out to what...... over $1,095,000/day over the past year?

They say money can't buy happiness, but I'm thinking that could go a long way. You'd be hard pressed to find a way to spend that amount of cash. You could buy a nice new house every day for a year and stock them with two decent cars and a network of the highest end computers money can buy (plus the requisite 10TB media server), and still have enough left over for your nightly 16-oz filet mignon. I think after ownin

The thing to know about Gates' palace is that the "family quarters" actually cover only about 3000 sq. ft., deep inside the fortress. (Don't be too harsh about that: his kids have gotten kidnapping and death threats over the years.) While 3K sq. ft. certainly isn't small, it's hardly palatial. Most of the 66K sq feet are essentially a public space for receptions.

I still agree with you though that he had better live a simple life, in touch with the real world, instead of off in his castle.

No, Bill Gates doesn't live at a castle. He just owns a mansion and a yacht. If you want a real American castle, check out Hearst Castle. [wikipedia.org] Among other things, I doubt the Gates estate has grown to 250,000 acres, with a phone almost behind every tree.

The Chinese government issued a decree two weeks ago that all PCs will need to have a licensed operating system software installed before leaving the factory gates in an effort to crack down on piracy.

Hu Jintao's was going to visit about a few months ago, but Hurricane Katrina delayed his visit until now.He cancelled it on the last day, and the time before, they were also going to dine at Gate's mansion where they had already prepared the salmon, which were airlifted from Alaska on the same day.Dunno what happend to them.

What happens when that security check reveals that one of the people walking through the door is a tyrant with billions subjects, harboring the biggest piracy, spammer and phishing rings it the world, with nuclear weapons?

And that another is the slightly less powerful guest of that tyrant, the president of China?

Hu: President Gates, I..Gates: Please, I'm not the president, I have more powerHu: I am still pleased to present you with the Chinese version of WindowsGates: Hey, that's a pirated copy!Hu: Yes, we made it just for you, need a key?Gates: No, you go and post in on YOUR internet, be sure not to censor it. BTW, you do know that RED Hat isn't a communist version of Linux. It actually promotes human rights.Hu: Oh yes, we know, and based on what I am allowed to read about your decline in human rights, it appears that the US isn't using it either.Gates: Cheers

It's hard to tell who should be more ashamed of this meeting, but a brief quote from Animal Farm [online-literature.com] is appropriate:

"Gentlemen," concluded Napoleon, "I will give you the same toast as before, but in a different form. Fill your glasses to the brim. Gentlemen, here is my toast: To the prosperity of The Manor Farm! "

There was the same hearty cheering as before, and the mugs were emptied to the dregs. But as the animals outside gazed at the scene, it seemed to them that some strange thing was happening. What was it that had altered in the faces of the pigs? Clover's old dim eyes flitted from one face to another. Some of them had five chins, some had four, some had three. But what was it that seemed to be melting and changing? Then, the applause having come to an end, the company took up their cards and continued the game that had been interrupted, and the animals crept silently away.

But they had not gone twenty yards when they stopped short. An uproar of voices was coming from the farmhouse. They rushed back and looked through the window again. Yes, a violent quarrel was in progress. There were shoutings, bangings on the table, sharp suspicious glances, furious denials. The source of the trouble appeared to be that Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington had each played an ace of spades simultaneously.

Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

Forty years ago, Nixon invented the policy of engagement to balance the dangerous Soviet Union against an equal dangerous but hungry Communist China.

Ten years ago, with the Soviet menace defeated, Bill Clinton invented the complete sell out. Slave made goods have flowed into out country, jobs and money have flowed out. Parallel to this was born the myth of the "information economy" where the US would own ideas and the rest of the world would do our bidding because of it. Of course, for this ownership to be complete, it must apply to our own citizens. To enslave others, we must first prove our dedication to ruling by enslaving ourselves.

You can draw a straight line to today, with the DMCA, Patriot act and rampant domestic spying from a tremendously expanded federal government. As the rich and powerful gateher in Redmond, ask yourself where the rhetoric of freedom has gone and why your boss is dining with a Communist. What in the hell are we doing?

Nowadays the government calls it "socialism with Chinese characteristics," not because they think they're fooling anyone, but as a pretense to legitimacy. Socialism is being redefined as something roughly along the lines of Nordic-style welfare capitalism. It's not even clear that the burgeoning urban bourgeoisie would care if the Party apparatus were to repudiate socialism once and for all.

Certainly we should petition for greater freedoms in mainland China and in particular for the rights of imprisoned [ethanzuckerman.com] journalists, political opponents, and religious leaders. Still, considering how terribly China's citizens suffered under previous incarnations (Mao) of the present post-Tiananmen regime, I'm optimistic for the future. I believe the Party will continue on its path of liberalization as a younger, more cosmopolitan generation of Oxford- and Columbia-educated Chinese accedes to power. Who needs revolution, after all, when you can build democracy from within?

"Nordic-style welfare capitalism"? I thought that Scandinavian countries were usually politically described as social democracies? Any Scandinavians care to comment on how they prefer to describe their own systems (politely;-) ) ? Apologies if I've got it wrong, I've just never heard the phrase "Nordic-style welfare capitalism" before. Maybe it's just two different spins on the same system, claims from the right and the left to 'owning' the same model?

I wonder where you've been for the past 20 years, because China's been liberalizing in fits and starts for pretty much that whole time. As bad as government repression is now, it's nothing compared to the Cultural Revolution or even the years immediately following Mao. Nowadays you can pick up all the major foreign dailies at any newsstand and flip to almost any channel on satellite TV. To be sure, random pages get ripped out of Newsweek, and CNN cuts to black every now and then. But for the government to p

The more China opens up, the more hope there is for the rule of law to replace the rule of guanxi (what we in the West would perceive as corruption), so long as people on both sides of the border keep pushing for free speech and open politics.

It seems to me there's already a country out there that (ostensibly) centers its core values on such things as freedom of speech, which makes me think that it's not going to do so well in weeding out corruption.

Forty years ago, Nixon invented the policy of engagement to balance the dangerous Soviet Union against an equal dangerous but hungry Communist China.Ten years ago, with the Soviet menace defeated, Bill Clinton invented the complete sell out. Slave made goods have flowed into out country, jobs and money have flowed out. Parallel to this was born the myth of the "information economy" where the US would own ideas and the rest of the world would do our bidding because of it. Of course, for this ownership to be

It's not funny. See here [wikipedia.org] for a start:
Hu was responsible for a political crackdown in early 1989 that lead to the deaths of several Tibetan activists. He also worked towards some liberalisation of cultural activities. Hu's harsh stance towards in Tibet led him to be reputed as a leader of conviction, and further attracted attention from the Central Govern

"As the rich and powerful gateher in Redmond, ask yourself where the rhetoric of freedom has gone and why your boss is dining with a Communist."

I can't help but wonder if Yahoo will be there. Maybe they have more data on political dissidents they want to help Mr. Hu imprison. Alternatively, maybe collecting data on dissidents will be a new feature of Vista. I'm sure the US government would also happily take advantage.

... flock together. They're both controll freaks, they both hate freedom and individual liberty, they both lie about free markets (China's while getting freer is not truely free, nor is MS which relies strictly on license monopolies and not competition), they both think they're smart and have large number of resources, they're both more interested in power and prestige than making a mark. Bill wants a billion people in his market, China wants total information controll over their citizens. In all truth, I wouldn't be suprosed if they slept together.

I wonder how security is going to be handles here. It seems that if some terrorist like the one wanting to get the WTO, knew about all these power players in one area, could think it might be an attractive target for them. It might have as much umph in the finacial world as the 9/11 attacks.

.. stick your fingers in your ears, go "La la la la", and don't read up on the Bilderberg Group [bilderberg.org]. The guy who runs the site is a little too "Alex Jones" for my tastes, but dig deep and you'll find some interesting tidbits.
It makes sense though, if you think about it - having a conference where you can say exactly what you think, without worrying about how it will affect you politically.

Actually, the political spectrum in Taiwan is more extreme. In traditional Chinese society, which is preserved better in Taiwan, most people believe that "well educated man should rule the country". Apart from the notably exception of current president Chen Shui-Bian, all the major current and past party leaders (former president Lee Teng-hui, major oppression leaders Lien Chan, James Soong, Ma Ying Jeou) all have PhD (actually all from major universities in US).In fact, I ran into a guy from Taiwan in

And yet, it was with Nixon where the lines first started, as well as the outrageous inflation.
It was JC who solved it by deregulating oil as well as bringing volker to manage the bank (nixon's idea was WIN and Reagan basically kept JC's system in place).

JC tried to get America back on course of doing our own energy, rather than being dependant on outside energy. Sadly, we had 17% importing back then. Now we are up to 66% imports. Now, we have ex-NSA/CIA directors who are concerned with the amount of oil imports that we do.

Hey, you americans are lucky to have a president with an MBA! Here in Brazil we elected a man who barely completed high school and worked mostly as a machine operator in a car parts factory. Not to say he's dumb, oh no, he was smart enough to set this country's greatest corruption scheme ever...

A number of the last two generations of PRC leaders have been engineers. Most of them were trained in a Soviet-style polytechnic university (like Hu), some even in the Soviet Union. This goes back to the close ties the Soviets and the PRC had until 1969, when Mao had ambitions of taking over Stalin's post as "father" to the Communist world (never happened). The relationship between universities goes back really to the 1910's; while Paris was a hot place for talk about ideology, Russia was much more activ

Well, it would be interesting to lock a bunch of senior Chinese executives and a similarly-sized group of Western senior attorneys in a room. Then tell them that whichever group has the least number of people alive in an hour's time gets shot on the spot.

When CNET News.com asked Bill Gates about software patents, he shifted the subject to "intellectual property," blurring the issue with various other laws. Then he said anyone who won't give blanket support to all these laws is a communist.

And now he invites a communist to his house. In the words of Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development, "How the worm has turned."

...I give you the future. It used to be that heads of state met openly, whilst businessmen made deals behind the scenes. Today, we see a head of state openly meeting with arguably the most powerful businessman in the United States. In a few years, the business men will simple meet, having done away with the facade of "heads of state." We live in interesting times.

It is time for a good political rant. Big business is too powerful and interfering in international relations to a frightening extent.

Most innovation and growth comes from small and medium companies. Large companies exaggerate the power of economies of scale because being nimble is more important in a fast changing world. Big biz survives by bullying smaller companies, not by doing the job better or being more efficient. Anybody who has worked for a big company knows that they are inharently disfunctional.

American car companies didn't grow bloated and slow because of lack of foreign competition, but because of a lack of domestic competition, ei. smaller but more car companies. Japan's auto makers grew competitive because Japan had about 12 car companies before going overseas.

Big businesses should be split, or at least mergers above a certain size should curtailed. Most mergers result in a net loss of profits. The only reason they still happen is because of a select few who make big bucks off such deals and the ego power of being big.

See, the beauty is that under free markets businesses that can't turn a profit, or corrupt the market, will collapse under their own weight eventually.Legislation and governmental action is not needed unless that specific entity has been playing unfairly by being anti-competitive or predatorial.

I agree that smaller companies tend to be more innovative, but larger companies have their place as well. Large companies allow for mass production, thus lower costs and more savings to the end consumer. This means t

This is probably intended more as a snub towards Bush, as opposed to a show of favor towards Gates. While it is typical for business leaders to meet with heads of state (Gates has done it several times, I believe) they typically do it on the head of state's home soil, as a sign of showing favor towards the nation. On the other hand, by making his first official visit to the U.S. one to the home of a person who is still technically a private citizen, Hu is essentially slapping Bush across the face. Otherwise, theres no real reason for Hu to come to the US, as opposed to Bush visiting China.

Honestly, I'm really not sure how many times since Western style diplomacy became the Gold standard internationally that something like this has happened. For a foreign head of state to visit a country and not visit at least someone in the government first is highly, highly irregular. This isn't so much a tech story, I think, as a political one.

It almost seems as if the world doesn't have time to keep up the charade. You can meet with US politicians and talk till your face turns blue, but the reality is action and policy is directed by business leaders, and with rare exception our politicans, from the President on down, are going to accomidate those who fund their campaigns.

Perhaps China realizes this. Why meet with Bush when you know trade policy is going to be in the hands of the American tycoons? Heck, we probably wouldn't go to war unless it somehow served the interests of America's business power elite.

I'm not saying this is exactly how it is with America's politics, but it sure as heck seems that way. And if it's true, China is snubbing Bush because they simply want to talk to who's really in charge.

Well look at the two choices. Gates is an intellectual, one of the biggest philanthropists in history, and is spending billions of dollars helping to improve education around the world (especially in the US with his new project) and helping to cure real killer diseases like Malaria.

Bush is the crowning achievement of the anti-intellectualism movement in America, couldn't imagine doing something good for another human being, but rather would lie and thieve his way to his own and his frieds' personal benefit at the expense of everyone else.

Fault Gates as you will for his business practices (although they're tame compared to Balmer and nearly every other CEO or ex CEO in business), but I know which of the two I'd rather spend time with.

MBA's aren't intellectuals. The intelligence required to get an MBA, even somewhere like Harvard, is a fraction of the intelligence required to get into Harvard as a technical major. Given that Gates has shown both far more intellectual capacity than Bush, technically, as well as having been orders of magnitude more successful as a businessman, I find your point to be positively silly.

If you call opposing the creation of a race of subhumans bread only for their stem cells to be anti-intellectual then I hope we have more of it. You are intellectually dishonest.

Who exactly is proposing creating a race of subhumans breed for their stem cells? Do you have a good grasp on how the technology works? The stem cells come from disposed fetuses (which are about as human as a piece of steak), and it is the cells that are cultured, not the fetuses.

It seems strange that the person to talk with Chinese officials about why there should be more focus on making sure IP is paid for would be a multi-billionaire, who made his vast fortunes with his IP, in his massive mansion. It sure wouldn't encourage me to make sure he gets more money.

I can easily see the wests motivation for this meeting. 1 billion+ consumers.

You only have to look at the difference between america's threathment of Cuba (a couple of million consumers) vs China (over a billion consumers) t0 know what the US is about when it comes to world politics.

But what about China's motivation for this? China has been doing very well for itself following its own unique style of goverment.

While it ain't exactly communism it sure as hell isn't capatalism either. Neither has it given

Yeah, and MS has one of its largest offshore centers in Beijing. The current buzz out here in Singapore is that there's a fair fight between Chinese and Indian ex-pats in Redmond in bringing projects to their respective home countries.

I'm not saying spying might not be a motivation, but surely, more employment could be one of the more obvious reasons for this wooing?

I was preparing to make a similar concept. I'm surprised no one here listed what really happened with China - the Chicom government has REQUIRED that every machine that goes out of a factory door in China have a LISCENSED OPERATING SYSTEM installed. Three of the major makers, including Lenova - new owners of the thinkpad line - are taking the lead in compliance.

If you'll look, after the mess in Tiananmen in 1989 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_prot ests_of_1989 [wikipedia.org] the Chinese government basically said something to the effect of "ok, you know we'll kill you if you embarass us again like that" and that they were going to turn the country capitalist in the sense that foreign companies could do whatever they want and they decided to invest heavily in technology and modernization. Their bread and circuses decision has lead China to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world if not the fastest. There were sweeping reforms economically that took place while the political landscape remained as barren as before. True communists they are not in any sense.

When I was growing up, My family built a house on a lake. We had 7500 ^ ft, with 4 bedrooms, several fireplaces, karastan wool carpeting/tile throughout, etc. First, I can not begin to imagine the size of that monster. Second, I seriously doubt that a house of 66000 ^ft has only 7 bedrooms. 9 of our house could fit in it. that would mean 36 bedrooms. Even assuming that they did only 3x, that would mean 27 bedrooms. I am guessing that some folks either are BSing, or are totally clueless.